ETSI TS 1

126 179 V13.2.0 (2016

16-10)

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
ION

LTE;
Mission Criti
ritical Push To Talk (MCPTT);
Codecs
ecs and media handling
(3GPP TS 26.1
.179 version 13.2.0 Release 13)
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3GPP TS 26.179 version 13.2.0 Release 13

ETSI TS 126 179 V13.2.0 (2016-10)

Reference
RTS/TSGS-0426179vd20

Keywords
LTE

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ETSI TS 126 179 V13.2.0 (2016-10)

Intellectual Property Rights

IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI Web
server (https://ipr.etsi.org/).
Pursuant to the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee
can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web
server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.

Foreword
This Technical Specification (TS) has been produced by ETSI 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The present document may refer to technical specifications or reports using their 3GPP identities, UMTS identities or
GSM identities. These should be interpreted as being references to the corresponding ETSI deliverables.
The cross reference between GSM, UMTS, 3GPP and ETSI identities can be found under
http://webapp.etsi.org/key/queryform.asp.

Modal verbs terminology

In the present document "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "may", "need not", "will", "will not", "can" and
"cannot" are to be interpreted as described in clause 3.2 of the ETSI Drafting Rules (Verbal forms for the expression of
provisions).
"must" and "must not" are NOT allowed in ETSI deliverables except when used in direct citation.

ETSI

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ETSI TS 126 179 V13.2.0 (2016-10)

Contents
Intellectual Property Rights ................................................................................................................................2
Foreword.............................................................................................................................................................2
Modal verbs terminology....................................................................................................................................2
Foreword.............................................................................................................................................................4
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................4
1

Scope ........................................................................................................................................................5

References ................................................................................................................................................5

Definitions and abbreviations ...................................................................................................................6

3.1
3.2

4
4.1
4.1.1
4.1.2
4.1.3
4.1.4
4.2
4.2.1

Definitions .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

Codecs and media handling for MCPTT ..................................................................................................7

MCPTT client ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Codec ............................................................................................................................................................ 7
Control plane protocol .................................................................................................................................. 7
User plane protocol ....................................................................................................................................... 7
De-jitter buffer .............................................................................................................................................. 8
MCPTT network ................................................................................................................................................ 8
Control plane protocol .................................................................................................................................. 8

Annex A (informative):

Change history .................................................................................................9

History ..............................................................................................................................................................10

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Foreword
This Technical Specification has been produced by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The contents of the present document are subject to continuing work within the TSG and may change following formal
TSG approval. Should the TSG modify the contents of the present document, it will be re-released by the TSG with an
identifying change of release date and an increase in version number as follows:
Version x.y.z
where:
x the first digit:
1 presented to TSG for information;
2 presented to TSG for approval;
3 or greater indicates TSG approved document under change control.
y the second digit is incremented for all changes of substance, i.e. technical enhancements, corrections,
updates, etc.
z the third digit is incremented when editorial only changes have been incorporated in the document.

Introduction
Requirements for codecs and media handling in support of the Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) service are
contained in this document.
The MCPTT service supports voice communication between several users (i.e. group call), where each user has the
ability to gain access to the permission to talk in an arbitrated manner. The MCPTT service also supports private calls
between two users.
Background information in support of this document may be found in TR 26.989 [4].

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Scope

The present document specifies the codecs and media handling for MCPTT. The corresponding service requirements
are defined in 3GPP TS 22.179 [2]. The corresponding functional architecture, procedures and information flows are
defined in 3GPP TS 23.179 [3].

References

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present
document.
-

References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or
non-specific.

For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.

For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including
a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same
Release as the present document.

[1]

3GPP TR 21.905: "Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications".

[2]

3GPP TS 22.179: "Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) over LTE; Stage 1".

[3]

3GPP TS 23.179: "Functional architecture and information flows to support mission critical
communication services; Stage 2".

[4]

3GPP TR 26.989: "Media codecs and Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS)

enhancements for MCPTT over LTE".

[5]

3GPP TS 24.379: "Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) call control; Protocol specification".

[6]

3GPP TS 24.380: "Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) media plane control; Protocol
specification".

[7]

3GPP TS 26.171: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; General description".

[8]

3GPP TS 26.173: "ANCI-C code for the Adaptive Multi Rate - Wideband (AMR-WB) speech
codec".

[9]

3GPP TS 26.190: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; Transcoding functions".

[10]

3GPP TS 26.191: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; Error concealment of erroneous or lost frames".

[11]

3GPP TS 26.192: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; Comfort noise aspects".

[12]

3GPP TS 26.193: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; Source controlled rate operation".

[13]

3GPP TS 26.194: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; Voice Activity Detector (VAD)".

[14]

3GPP TS 26.204: "Speech codec speech processing functions; Adaptive Multi-Rate - Wideband
(AMR-WB) speech codec; ANSI-C code".

[15]

3GPP TS 26.441: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); General overview".

[16]

3GPP TS 26.442: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); ANSI C code (fixed-point)".

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[17]

3GPP TS 26.443: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); ANSI C code (floating-point)".

[18]

3GPP TS 26.445: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); Detailed algorithmic description".

[19]

3GPP TS 26.447: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); Error concealment of lost packets".

[20]

3GPP TS 26.449: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); Comfort Noise Generation (CNG)
aspects".

[21]

3GPP TS 26.450: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); Discontinuous Transmission
(DTX)".

[22]

3GPP TS 26.451: "Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); Voice Activity Detection (VAD)".

[23]

IETF RFC 4867 (2007): "RTP Payload Format and File Storage Format for the Adaptive MultiRate (AMR) and Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) Audio Codecs", J. Sjoberg, M.
Westerlund, A. Lakaniemi and Q. Xie.

[24]

IETF RFC 3550 (2003): "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", H. Schulzrinne,
S. Casner, R. Frederick, V. Jacobson.

[25]

IETF RFC 3551 (2003): "RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences with Minimal Control', H.
Schulzerinne, S. Casner.

[26]

IETF RFC 3711 (2004): "The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)", M. Baugher, D.
McGrew, M. Naslund, E. Carrara, K. Norrman.

Definitions and abbreviations

3.1

Definitions

For the purposes of the present document, the terms and definitions given in 3GPP TR 21.905 [1] and the following
apply. A term defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same term, if any, in 3GPP
TR 21.905 [1].
(void)

3.2

Abbreviations

For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in 3GPP TR 21.905 [1] and the following apply. An
abbreviation defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same abbreviation, if any, in
3GPP TR 21.905 [1].
AMR-WB
AVP
EVS
FB
KPI
MBMS
MBSFN
MCPTT
RTP
SAVP
SRTP
SWB
WB

Adaptive Multi Rate Wideband (codec)

Audio-Video Profile
Enhanced Voice Services
Fullband
Key Performance Indicator
Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services
Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network
Mission Critical Push-To-Talk
Real-time Transport Protocol
Secure Audio-Video Profile
Secure Real-time Transport Protocol
Super Wideband
Wideband

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Codecs and media handling for MCPTT

4.1

MCPTT client

4.1.1

Codec

MCPTT clients shall support the AMR-WB codec as specified in 3GPP TS 26.171 [7], 3GPP TS 26.190 [9], 3GPP TS
26.173 [8] and 3GPP TS 26.204 [14], including all 9 modes and source controlled rate operation as specified in 3GPP
TS 26.193 [12], voice activity detection as specified in 3GPP TS 26.194 [13], comfort noise generation as specified in
3GPP TS 26.192 [11] and error concealment as specified in TS 26.191[10]. The MCPTT clients shall be capable of
operating with any subset of these 9 codec modes.
Based on operator / MCPTT service provider policy, MCPTT clients may additionally support the EVS codec in superwideband mode.
If an operator / MCPTT service provider chooses to additionally use SWB according to its policy, then an MCPTT
client that offers super-wideband speech communication shall support the EVS codec in SWB mode as defined in 3GPP
TS 26.441 [15], 3GPP TS 26.445 [18], 3GPP TS 26.442 [16], 3GPP TS 26.443 [17], discontinuous transmission 3GPP
TS 26.450 [21], voice activity detection as specified in 3GPP TS 26.451 [22], comfort noise generation as specified in
3GPP TS 26.449 [20] and error concealment as specified in TS 26.447 [19].
NOTE:

4.1.2

In evaluating the codec alternatives for MCPTT, two codecs; AMR-WB and EVS were considered in
detail. The EVS codec was shown to provide statistically significant performance improvements relative
to the AMR-WB codec for some of the MCPTT KPIs as studied and reported in the TR 26.989 [4]. After
consideration of all factors in Release 13, as documented in TR 26.989 [4], the currently widely deployed
and available AMR-WB codec meets the needs of MCPTT services and was decided upon as the
mandatory codec for MCPTT.

Control plane protocol

General MCPTT client procedures for SDP offer-answer are specified in 3GPP TS 24.379 [5] and 3GPP TS 24.380 [6].
MCPTT clients shall support both 'RTP/AVP' [25] and 'RTP/SAVP' [26] profiles in SDP offer/answer. MCPTT clients
shall not reject an SDP offer due to offered RTP profile being either 'RTP/AVP' or 'RTP/SAVP'. MCPTT clients may,
based on operator / MCPTT service provider policy, offer either 'RTP/AVP' or 'RTP/SAVP' RTP profiles.
MCPTT clients shall support and offer a payload type with AMR-WB.
If an operator / MCPTT service provider policy enables an MCPTT service using the EVS codec in SWB mode, then
MCPTT clients may, based on operator / MCPTT service provider policy, additionally offer a payload type with the
EVS codec in SWB mode.
The offer-answer protocol, setting of the codec preference order, and the generation of SDP offer and answer shall be
configured according to operator / MCPTT service provider policy.

4.1.3

User plane protocol

MCPTT clients shall support both RTP [24] and SRTP [26] media transport.
An MCPTT client shall understand the payload formats and options as defined in RFC 4867 [23]. The MCPTT client
does not have to support operating according to all the options defined in RFC 4867 but shall be capable of properly
accepting or rejecting all options.
The following payload format options from RFC 4867 are defined as follows to ensure minimum interoperability:
-

bandwidth-efficient shall be supported

mode-set: shall support all modes and shall offer no particular mode set

mode-change-period: both "1" and "2" shall be supported, "1" shall be offered (or not included)

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mode-change-capability: both "1" and "2" shall be supported, "2" shall be offered

mode-change-neighbor: both "0" and "1" shall be supported, "0" shall be offered (or not included)

channels: shall offer "1"

Other parameters:
-

ptime: shall be supported, "20" shall be offered

maxptime: shall be supported, "240" shall be offered

max-red: shall be supported, "0" shall be offered

If, based on operator / MCPTT service provider policy, the MCPTT service additionally supports the EVS codec in
SWB mode, then an MCPTT client that supports the optional EVS codec in SWB mode shall understand the EVS
payload format as specified in 3GPP TS 26.445 [18] in order to support EVS in SWB mode. The MCPTT client does
not have to support operating according to all the options defined in 3GPP TS 26.445 [18] but must be capable of
properly accepting or rejecting all options.

4.1.4

De-jitter buffer

When MCPTT voice traffic is received on the MBMS bearer in MBMS/MBSFN, the traffic is scheduled to arrive at
intervals of multiples of 40ms. The received traffic could also exhibit time-varying jitter introduced in the backhaul and
the uplink transmission by the talker before being scheduled for transmission on the MBMS bearer. The MCPTT UE
receiving traffic on an MBMS bearer shall support and use a de-jitter buffer that is able to manage this amount of jitter.

4.2

MCPTT network

4.2.1

Control plane protocol

MCPTT Server procedures are specified in 3GPP TS 24.379 [5] and 3GPP TS 24.380 [6].
MCPTT call media codec information shall include codecs according to MCPTT Client capabilities as specified in
clause 4.1.1.

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Annex A (informative):
Change history

Date

TSG #

2016-03
2016-06

SA#71
SA#72

2016-09

SA#73

TSG Doc. CR

SP160265
SP160593

Change history
Rev Cat Subject/Comment

0001

0003

Approved at TSG SA#71

Introduction and correction to scope and adjustment of
references to TR 26.879 to reflect its renumbering
Addition of mandatory RTP profiles for MCPTT

ETSI

New
versio
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13.0.0
13.1.0
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History
Document history
V13.0.0

May 2016

Publication

V13.1.0

August 2016

Publication

V13.2.0

October 2016

Publication

ETSI

ETSI TS 126 179 V13.2.0 (2016-10)